Thinking South Korea… Mmmmmh, yes, no?

It’s a done deal! 336 Malawian youths will soon be leaving for South Korea following the labour export agreement deal between the Government of Malawi and that of South Korea. 

I am having problems as to whether I should shower this deal with all praises as decreed by the authorities or I should join those sceptics who are painting it red all over. This follows the revelation by Amnesty International in its report that says in South Korea migrant workers are subject to discrimination, exploitation and lower or unpaid wages. The report captures developments that happened in that country between 2009 and 2013.

The report further reveals that the South Korean Government was suppressing migrant workers trade unions through arrests and deportation of leaders of Migrant Trade Union (MTU)

One of South Korea’s leading news publications The Hankyoreh reported on its online news site statistics that revealed that most female migrant workers do face worst human rights violation of all which is sexual assault.

The Publication reports that one out of 10 female migrant workers have reported sexual abuse or harassment.

Meanwhile as those reports are making headlines, the Ministry of labour is asking all young men and women who were successful for the jobs to finalise their travel arrangements by submitting the relevant documents by Wednesday 29^th May, 2013. Korea is now within sight. The Ministry has also gone a step further to call for more applications, this time around they are targeting Degree holders.

What does this mean? It means soon the country will start losing graduates in the fields of Agriculture, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Information Technology, Welding and other equivalent qualifications courtesy of this labour export agreement at a time when we have been lamenting about brain drain in most key sectors.

Let me say it here that the situation is tricky, we complain about brain drain yet on the ground we see alarming figures of unemployed youths. We have people with the papers but there are no job opportunities created to accommodate them all. The few lucky ones when they get the jobs they end up not being satisfied with the conditions, there is absolutely nothing to motivate them, nothing! especially in the public service. That’s why we keep seeing them trekking elsewhere in search for greener pastures (not sure though if the grass is much greener there than back home, so many stories being told eish!) 

This where I would become the first person to accept and applaud any labour export agreement as long as it’s aimed at addressing youth unemployment and uplifting their lives. I wonder why the government is shrouding this deal with mystery thereby subjecting it to so many political connotations.

There are a lot of stories making round apart from the revelation by Amnesty International. So many fears and speculations on the nature of their jobs, their perks and how the money will be torn into fractions etc.  

The people going to South Korea are our brothers and sisters. We are wishing them well, we need them in jobs and for them to enjoy good lives.

What people are asking from their Government is simple, just information. It’s as simple as making a public statement where all our fears will addressed.  Just take us through the situation in South Korea. Let us understand the nitty-gritties of this labour export deal otherwise this is becoming a cause for another political pomposity, in fact we keep having many of those snobbishness nowadays. Let Government assure its people that it meant well by signing such an agreement. Otherwise this is also the reason why MPs have now started demanding to take a leading role in approving this agreement even before the 336 youths take to the skies all the way to South Korea.

Congratulations Madam President, but…

“I have just been elected by fellow African Heads of State to be the Champion of Health focussing on HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis in Southern Africa,” President Joyce Banda announced on her facebook page from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where she is attending the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Organization for African Unity (OAU), which is now the AU. 

 

When I read this I was compelled to join all those that have been sending her congratulatory messages following the appointment, because this is for Malawi not for PP or herself, it’s for all of us so spare us from all the political humdrum we don’t need them especially where the honour is for Malawi not individuals.

Having said that, let me put up some thoughts that are being whispered in my mind. As somebody who has been working with local and international scientists/medical researchers for close to one year now, I have developed a passion for health issues. This is the reason why I am most of the times commenting on the state of our health care delivery system. 

In my job I have learnt a lot and I keep learning to an extent that I sometimes forget that professionally I am a Journalist. I interact with scientists, read research publications and chat with medical doctors almost every day. 

To say the truth, with 1000 days to go before 2015 the possibility of Malawi achieving the Millennium Development Goals is becoming a tall order each time I take a look at how we are faring in the health sector. Indeed, the news that our president has now been elected to champion the fight against HIV, Malaria and Tuberculosis in Southern Africa is a welcome development.

Therefore, I would like to urge our president to start the battle back home because there is a lot that needs to be done. Malaria and Tuberculosis are endemic throughout the country and continue to be the major public health problem. Malaria is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children under age 5 and among pregnant women. It is estimated that Malawi experiences about 6 million episodes of malaria annually (HMIS, 2011).

On TB, the Health System Trust reports that out of the many cases of TB registered across Malawi, Over 70% are estimated to be HIV/AIDS positive.

Talking about the HIV situation in Malawi Madam President, let’s realise the 2009 Bingu dream of having locally manufactured ARVs for this is the right way to go. I took time to listen to the speech made by Chairperson of the AU commission Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma at the AU’s celebrations in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Zuma called upon African countries to prioritise research and work on initiatives that will intensify the availability of ARV’s by making them more affordable. She called upon African countries to invest in the manufacturing of life prolonging drugs for people living with HIV/AIDS.

Madam President, you may wish to know that having locally made ARVs will not only save the lives of people suffering from HIV/Aids in the country but it will also create jobs for thousands many others. This will also help government in saving the much needed forex as we battle to recover economically.

Not only that Madam President, like I said there is more work to do. The health care delivery system is in a state of shambles. This is where we need you to start from.  As a country we keep registering unnecessary deaths that in normal circumstances were avoidable. The conditions in our public hospitals are unpalatable. Hospitals have stopped being places of hope. Workers are no longer motivated coupled with the acute shortage of essential drugs, poor facilities, in fact everything about the system is dead. 

For example, the past two weeks I have been frequenting the Gogo Chatinkha maternity wing at queens where I came face to face with the reality on the ground. During my visits there, I saw women bundled in wards with no breathing spaces, the facilities, the beds, the beddings and everything looked bad. I couldn’t believe that we are keeping human beings under such conditions more especially women and Queens being a referral hospital we can do better than this.

The most touching part is the news that the Gynaecology department is the most depleted department at Queens with no medical doctors under the Ministry of Health working there. All the doctors there are from College of Medicine who are most of the times equally busy with other projects.

Can we for once put politics aside and start putting our efforts to the side of goodness? I could go on and on listing the problems that are facing the public health sector which to me is one of the dead sectors in the country. This sector needs urgent intervention, I would propose having a complete overhaul because what we have on the ground now is no longer effective.

There is time for ‘chiwongolero amayi’ and trust me I will sing a lot of these verses once I see that we are doing right things in the country. I know we can but all we need is that political will. Once again Madam President, congratulations!

The making of a “Party clerk”

It’s not outlandish that we have had yet another poorly presented press statement from the ruling PP. Why? It’s their style and we have seen many of those. I didn’t know that sometimes the consumption of Fanta orange in large supply can make one so harsh and heated up over petty issues. Thanks to Ken Msonda and his fellow orange entertainers, now I know. 
 

PP loves picking unnecessary fights. It’s their nature because they are just following the footsteps of their leader who has made more enemies than friends within a short period of time. 

The People’s Party is fuming that despite government announcing the reduction of fuel prices a couple of days ago, not all people were clapping hands to such a move. This prompted the party to sanction their “party clerk” Ken Msonda to place his signature on some useless statement that attacked the Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority MERA and the Democratic Progressive Party DPP.

In their orange heads, MERA is full of “DPP mercenaries” who contradicted the government’s announcement on the reduction of fuel prices so they deserve the attack. To them anyone who seems to be standing on their way is DPP, not MCP, UDF, Mafunde or Chipani Chapfuko. 

In fact they keep seeing DPP controlling everything about their government. Who is in control of government by the way? No wonder even when this Ken man went to town with pronouncements that they will soon be painting the streets orange with their 50 orange pickups, it never took him a day to backpedal. It was DPP again fabricating all that. Now I know, it’s either this man is constipated with the orange stuff so much that he has turned into a day dreamer who keeps seeing DPP all over in his dreams or he just loves DPP more than he loves PP. That’s why DPP is always becoming the first name to come out of his mouth with so much ease. He is so obsessed with DPP this Ken man.

To some extent I understand Ken Msonda’s frustrations, it sucks big time being PP nowadays. Their leader has failed to deliver with only one year in power. She keeps loosing popularity each passing day no matter how much they battle to bring her up on the ladder. Not even chants of “amayi chiwongolero” are doing the magic. The 2014 reality is sinking right in their orange matter, oh my! The JB moment will soon become history. That’s so frustrating, isn’t it? 

Picture this; It reminds me of the Ken Msonda I used to know back then when I was working as a reporter at MBC. I met Ken Msonda at Polytechnic during a Press conference that was organised by Jessy Kabwila and her friends during the academic freedom fight. Ken Msonda came all the way and sat together with us, the journalists. Of course he introduced himself as a concerned citizen but it was funny seeing him asking those questions and making those funny comments throughout. 

This other day I was sent at Malawi Sun Hotel to cover a press conference by property owners who were launching what they called Estate Agents Association of Malawi or whatever they called it. Guess who I found there, Ken Msonda again. The man was almost everywhere laboring to make himself very important and useful. I am not faulting him on that though because we all have at one point all the other labored to achieve the same, but sometimes it becomes too much.

What am I saying here? If there are people that need the orange jobs than anything else in this world then Ken man is one of them. Wachokela kutali mkuluyu.

But I have some nice words for all of you orange buddies; No more “amayi chiwongolero” no more milking the Asian traders in Lilongwe (by the way, you guys are crooks, thieves and corrupt, eish! More than the UDF regime) no more kutakata come 2014.

Hail Ken Man the party clerk.. Umayitha!